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Hockey Night in Rapid City
Hockey Night in Rapid City is a regional presentation of Western Hockey League (WHL) and Pacific West Hockey League (PWHL) games involving the Rapid City Lightning and Rapid City Thunder. It is produced by NBC Sports and KWIT Production, and televised on KWIT 4 | NBC. NBCstadium in Juneau, Alaska which is part of the 12-acre Savikko Park Sports Complex. The stadium hosted an opening ceremony on April 5, 2014 before hosting a series of friendlies between April 12 and April 27 called Kickstart Juneau! The stadium is home to FC Juneau of the West Coast Soccer League, Alaska Southeast Humpback Whales of the Independent Pacific Conference, and will also be home to the Juneau Whalers in the North American Football League beginning in 2016. History The Juneau Football Coalition intially presented a plan in 2008 to construct a 42,000-seat retractable roof stadium on 136 acres off North Douglas Highway. Following concerns that the location was too unconvenient, the group focused their efforts on the Savikko Park stadium site. In 2011, the city purchased all 12 acres of Savikko Park in order to construct a new ice arena and football stadium. Groundbreaking took place on July 25, 2011. By January 2014, most of the stadium's shell was completed and construction began on reinforcing the structure, installing safety devices, and installing restroom fixtures. The stadium's facade and seating was then installed in February and March. The stadium held its ribbon cutting ceremony on April 5, 2014. Southeast Expansion In January 2016, the owners of the Juneau Whalers announced intentions to replace the wooden bleachers at the Southeast end of the stadium with a field house and operations building. The building would be home to the headquarters of both the Juneau Whalers and the University of Alaska Southeast football program. Also, the expansion would add new permanent seating and transform the stadium from a horseshoe shaped bowl to a fully-enclosed bowl. The design is modeled after Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. Although there is no set-date for construction of a new football operations building, stadiums officials did announce a new 59' by 20' video scoreboard would be built in the North corner of the stadium above the exisiting press box. The new scoreboard will be installed in mid-April just before the 2016 FC Juneau season. It is being installed due to concerns that the small 15' by 11' scoreboard would be insufficient for the North American Football League. Soccer FC Juneau FC Juneau was established in 2014 to help pump in additional revenue to the stadium before the start of the 2014 college football season or the 2016 North American Football League season. FC Juneau's first match was an 0-2 loss to the Kelowna Royals FC on May 3, 2014. Football Humpback Whales The University of Alaska Southeast announced in late 2013 that the school would begin fielding a football team for the first time in the school's 42-year history beginning in 2014. The Alaska Southeast Humpback Whales are scheduled to play their first ever home game at the Douglas Island Stadium on September 5, 2014 against the Idaho Vandals. College bowl game On November 23, 2013, a NCAA Division II postseason bowl game was proposed for 2014 that would pit the champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference against the champions of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. On December 10, 2013 the NCAA announced that the game would be played annually at the stadium with the inaugural game being hosted on December 19, 2014. Most likely the game will feature the expanded capacity of 27,500 by adding various bleacher sections around the field. NAFL Beginning in 2016, the stadium will be home to the Juneau Whalers in the North American Football League. The team will mark the return of semi-professional football to the city of Juneau since the original Juneau Whalers folded in 2008. Mega Bowl XLIV In 2014, the NAFL announced that the stadium would host Mega Bowl XLV on January 26, 2018; however, the team agreed to a date swap with the Arizona Sidewinders and Juneau will now host Mega Bowl XLIV on January 27, 2017 instead. Notable events